A variety of different types of weaponry which utilize discharged compressed gas to fire projectiles are known. These compressed gas powered weapons have particular use in a variety of applications including tranquilizer guns and pellet marking guns which are sometimes referred to as "paint ball guns." Generally marking guns use compressed gas to fire a relatively fragile projectile which comprises a frangible shell which is filled with a marking composition. The capsules are designed to break upon impact with a target and thereby discharge the marking material onto the target.
Such marking guns have a variety of different uses. For example, they may be employed to segregate livestock within a herd, assist in the counting of wild animals or for training of military or law enforcement personnel through simulation exercises. Likewise, they may be used by military and law enforcement personnel for crowd control. Another very popular use for such marking guns is for recreation. In particular, paint ball marking guns are used for "war games" in which participants attempt to hit other combatants with paint balls thereby marking them and eliminating them from the game.
One attribute which is extremely important to users of paint ball marking guns which are intended for such recreational war games, as well as those used for other purposes, is the rate at which the gun may be fired. Obviously, paint ball marking guns which are capable of increased firing rates offer the user a significant competitive advantage over his/her fellow combatants. One significant factor which influences the firing rate of any weapon is the type of firing arrangement that is employed. Paint ball marking guns typically may employ manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic firing arrangements. A manual firing arrangement requires appropriate manipulation of the gun before successive projectiles are fired. In contrast, a semi-automatic firing arrangement enables a projectile to fired each time the trigger is depressed, while an automatic firing arrangement will fire multiple projectiles each time the trigger is pulled.
Although fully automatic weapons may seem desirable, they suffer from various shortcomings. For example, they consume increased amounts of both ammunition and compressed air and have proven problematic, particularly due to feeding mechanism failure. Moreover, they have not achieved widespread success due to regulation prohibiting their use in many recreational settings.
One important limitation on the firing rate is the physical limitations on the speed at which a user can successively pull the trigger. Specifically, even if a weapon is capable of handling much higher firing rates, a user may not be able to achieve these higher firing rates because he/she simply cannot successively pull the trigger fast enough. This limitation is of particular importance in the context of semi-automatic firing arrangements which are generally preferred in most paint ball competitive tournaments since fully the rules typically do not permit automatic firing systems.